travel Archives - The Ten Thousand Hour Mama

Moms’ weekend in Hood River, Oregon: Wine, beer, hiking + laughter

February 26, 2018catherinemryan

One weekend. Eight moms. Two hikes. Plenty of wine and good food. An absurd amount of snacks. Our Moms’ Weekend trip to Hood River added up to a fun, restorative trip we won’t soon forget.

The eight of us have been friends since we were in moms’ group together, when our kids were babies. In some cases, we’ve known each other since our littles were just weeks old. Now that our kids are toddlers, many of us get together every week for homeschool preschool.

We keep in close touch—but even though we hang out often, we seldom get the chance to truly connect. After all, it’s hard to have a sustained conversation when kids are running sprints in the house, asking for more goldfish crackers and getting into fistfights over Paw Patrol toys.

We needed a Moms’ Weekend.

We planned our Moms’ Weekend in Hood River for months, putting it on the calendar so everyone could plan around it. We chose a house in Hood River, decided who would cook which meal and scoped out fun things to do.

When you have eight moms planning a trip, it’s going to be organized—and awesome.

Once we set out, leaving our families behind (except for one mom who brought her second baby—squee!), we also shed responsibilities. We didn’t have schedules or anywhere to be. We had a wide-open Moms’ Weekend in Hood River with some of our closest friends. It was primed to be epic.

How to pump at the airport: Breastfeeding and travel

January 8, 2018January 2, 2018catherinemryan

Breastfeeding can be many things—beautiful, painful, sweet, frustrating—and if you are breastfeeding while you travel, it can also be inconvenient. Add in having to pump at the airport and you have a whole new set of challenges to overcome.

There are many reasons you might need to pump at the airport: Maybe you’re going to travel without kids, or you exclusively pump, or you pump in addition to breastfeeding. Point is, pumping at the airport is sometimes necessary—but it doesn’t have to be terribly hard.

Although I weaned my youngest this summer, I still have a lot of thoughts about breastfeeding and pumping milk. I also have a lot of experience, since I breastfed my two kids for a total of more than three years and had to pump in all sorts of situations, some of which were really awkward.

Pumping wasn’t my favorite task even in the best of situations (thank you, Husband, for bringing me ice cream while I pumped at home!). But figuring out the logistics of how to pump at the airport, carrying milk in my carry-on and managing to not miss my connections: That sounded like a plot line from one of those terribly uncomfortable Judd Apatow movies I can’t watch because they make me break out into hives.

But maybe, just maybe, pumping in the airport doesn’t have to be such a nightmare. In the hopes of keeping your worries from reaching 30,000 feet, here’s my hard-won wisdom on how to pump at the airport.

How to pump at the airport: breastfeeding and travel. Ten Thousand Hour Mama Read more →

New Year gratitude: Starting 2017 right

January 2, 2018January 5, 2018catherinemryan

Thinking back on 2017, I remember a lot of anxiety, frustration and fear about the direction our country is headed. I was ready to say goodbye to the year with relief—then we spent the final days of the year at the coast. There’s something about the ocean’s rhythms that put me at peace, and apparently the trip gave me a healthy dose of perspective, too. I wanted to welcome 2018, then, with some New Year gratitude.

I pulled together 12 of my favorite moments from 2017 in this recap post. I had such a blast looking through photos and remembering these moments. I kept laughing out loud at my family’s shenanigans.

New Year gratitude exercises are becoming a bit of a tradition around here, apparently. I wrote a post about what I was grateful for in 2016 and listed 50 things I’m grateful for at the end of 2015—it’s wonderful to look back on those posts!

No one can know what the future will bring, but we’ll do our best to make 2018 just as memorable as last year—and to continue New Year gratitude throughout the next 12 months, too. Read more →

Portland’s The Grotto with kids: Outdoor Christmas fun

December 7, 2017December 6, 2017catherinemryan

This week we checked off a Portland bucket list activity: Visiting Portland’s The Grotto with kids. The families from Kiwi’s homeschool preschool planned a p.m. field trip to see the Christmas lights there, and since I didn’t exactly know what was in store, this Portland Christmas activity gave me so much more than I expected!

Visiting The Grotto with kids is a painless, fun outdoor activity to get in the Christmas spirit in Portland.

If you’re looking for a family activity in Portland that’s

inexpensive
easy for little kids and entertaining for older kids, too
not stressful

then I recommend visiting The Grotto with the whole family. (I didn’t receive compensation or free entry for this post; I just really enjoyed our visit and am glad we finally went to see the Christmas lights there!)

Family Christmas activities in Portland: The Grotto with kids Read more →

Portland hike to the Witch’s Castle with kids

September 20, 2017September 19, 2017catherinemryan

Lately Peeper has been on a mystery/spooky story kick—a predilection I could attribute to my own childhood love of scary stuff but is mostly due to her Grandpa Shempy’s long made-up mysteries about something called the Monkey’s Paw. So when I had a free morning and the kids miraculously ate their breakfast on time and without protest, I decided to try hiking Portland’s Witch’s Castle with the kids.

Hiking Portland Oregon's witch's castle with kids is a fun outdoor activity when you travel as a family - or if you live here in the Northwest! Ten Thousand Hour Mama

I originally heard of Portland’s Witch’s Castle in Forest Park from my blogging friend Renee. She wrote about hiking to the castle with her teens, and I’ve wanted to do it myself ever since then—but with my littler kids, of course.

Since the day’s forecast called for some rain, I wanted to choose a forested hike so we wouldn’t get totally drenched if it did drizzle. Forest Park, with its immense Douglas firs, provides quite a bit of shelter from the Oregon rain—but as luck would have it, the skies stayed mostly clear. (Thanks, weather!)

Rain or no rain, though, the hike was gorgeous—and the Witch’s Castle lived up to its spooky, and awesome, reputation!

Kids’ mini mural crawl in North Portland, Oregon

August 18, 2017August 18, 2017catherinemryan

This summer I’ve fallen in love with street art. I think it started when two blogging friends and I hit up some of our favorite murals in Southeast Portland, Oregon. Lisa from This Beautiful Day, Jenni from A Well Crafted Party and I caught up (and goofed off) in front of some of the city’s most dramatic street art. Just about every chance I’ve gotten since then, I’ve made detours and special trips to visit Portland murals—and have been bringing my kids along, too. One of my favorite trips was a mini mural crawl in North Portland that both kids joined me for.

This mural crawl for kids was one of the most fun family activities I’ve done recently, partly because it was even more enjoyable for me than it was for the girls. (Pretty sure I’m not alone in planning 99% of our family activities around what the under-5 set wants to do—but not this time!) That said, Peeper and Kiwi really got into the kid-friendly mural crawl in North Portland. (See the photos for proof!)

Part of the fun was the novelty of the family activity: We’d never done something quite like this. Peeper loved directing me and Kiwi so she could take a photo. (She has a good eye, doesn’t she?) Plus, the girls were fascinated by street art. Their wide eyes seemed to say, “Wait, you mean artists can paint giant pictures outside? I thought you said we couldn’t paint on walls!”

Uh-oh, I might live to regret this Portland, Oregon mural crawl. Oh well, it was worth it!

The $2 hack to make my kids sleep on vacation

July 26, 2017July 20, 2017catherinemryan

“Vacations are so relaxing and easy!”—said no parent of young kids. Ever. We recently spent four days in Newport, Oregon, which was lovely but not restful in the least. On top of all the prepping and packing and passing back of 18 varieties of snacks on the drive to the central Oregon coast, neither kid sleeps that well away from home. Somehow, though, despite feeling a bit run down on vacation, my creativity remained intact, and I am now obsessed with the parenting hack I pulled off to make my kids sleep on vacation.

Like on most vacations we take, I couldn’t make my kids sleep on the first night. Although I had brought noise machines and loveys and special blankets, we didn’t have the blackout curtains we rely on at home. Once morning dawned, with both kids wide awake, I knew I had to try something different.

My protests of “it’s too early” didn’t cut it.

Family travel can destroy sleep habits. Fortunately my $2 hack to make my kids sleep on vacation totally worked! Zzzz - Ten Thousand Hour Mama

Peeper opened the blinds and begged to differ. “Look mama, it’s sunny!” She said. “It’s not too early!” So we spent the early-early morning semi-conscious on the couch, praising the geniuses who invented Saturday morning cartoons.

Then on my way to the drive-through coffee shop (OMG CAFFEINE THANK YOU), I stopped at the dollar store down the street. I’m not sure where the idea came from, but I dropped $2 on aluminum tin foil and pulled off one of my best parenting hacks yet—which not only helped make my kids sleep on vacation but also stopped me from swearing off family vacations entirely. (Win!)

This $2 hack to make my kids sleep on vacation is a game-changer for family travel and vacation! Ten Thousand Hour Mama Read more →

Must-do kids activities in Portland: Oregon bloggers’ recs

June 22, 2017June 22, 2017catherinemryan

Having a bunch of blogger friends is the best. They’re like a combination of the hive mind, Yelp, google and a travel agent, except with really awesome photo skills. When I need recommendations on where to eat or what to do in Portland, Oregon, I ask my Portland bloggers buds first; ditto where to stay at the coast, or what to cook for an upcoming BBQ. So when I wanted to collect a bunch of must-do family and kids activities in Portland, I knew who to ask.

I posed this question in a handful of Portland bloggers groups I belong to:

When friends and their family visit Portland from out of town, where do you send them?

Lucky for me (and you!) they sent a bunch of responses. Read on for insider tips, recommendations and curated travel plans for the best Portland family-friendly spots and kids activities!

Blogger recommendations for the best restaurants + kid activities in Portland, Oregon! family-friendly travel // Ten Thousand Hour Mama Read more →

Sushi with kids: How to get picky eaters to try sushi

May 30, 2017December 8, 2018catherinemryan

You CAN go to sushi with kids, even picky eaters. Here's how! Ten Thousand Hour Mama

When my mother-in-law was visiting recently, I wanted to take her out to dinner as a thank you for watching Kiwi and Peeper while I worked. She loves sushi but lives in semi-rural Michigan—not exactly a mecca for delicious combos of rice, nori and raw fish. So I suggested we go out to a local sushi restaurant with kids—something I was semi-terrified to do, considering they are picky eaters.

I am actually shocked at how well sushi with kids went! The girls ate (a bit), and my mother-in-law ate a lot, and I ate the most. (“You don’t like roe? More for me!”)

If you’re feeling brave, I have some advice, dear parent of fussy eaters. Here are my suggestions on how to get picky eaters to try sushi!

Even picky eaters can eat sushi! How to get fussy eaters to try anything. Ten Thousand Hour Mama
Read more →

Springtime family activities: Portland’s rhododendron garden

May 25, 2017May 28, 2017catherinemryan

We are getting a handful of summery days in the forecast—my weather app is looking positively perfect—and all this sunshine is making the blooming rhododendrons outside look even more gorgeous! When I was looking for fun springtime family activities in Portland while my mother-in-law was in town recently, I found the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden. We made plans to go.

I woke up that morning not feeling well. The girls hadn’t slept much and were fighting over a pair of Anna and Elsa figurines. “Are you sure you still want to go?” Eric asked me as I brushed my teeth. “WE’RE GOING,” I said. And I’m so glad we did!

Crystal Springs Portland rhododendron garden: A perfect walk and hiking destination for Oregon travel with kids. Ten Thousand Hour Mama Read more →